The bees living on the roof of the European Environment Agency (EEA) received some special guests today, when European Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik and Danish Environment Minister Karen Ellemann visited their hives. The two policy makers joined EEA Executive Director Jacqueline McGlade in harvesting the first batch of honey.

The EU 2010 Biodiversity Baseline provides
facts and figures on the state and trends of the
different biodiversity and ecosystem components.
It thereby supports the EU in developing the
post‑2010 sub‑targets and provides factual data
for measuring and monitoring progress in the EU
from 2011 to 2020.

Europe's mountain areas have social, economic and environmental capital of significance for the entire continent. This importance has been recognised since the late 19th century through national legislation; since the 1970s through regional structures for cooperation; and since the 1990s through regional legal instruments for the Alps and Carpathians. The European Union (EU) first recognised the specific characteristics of mountain areas in 1975 through the designation of Less Favoured Areas (LFAs). During the last decade, EU cohesion policy and the Treaty of Lisbon have both focused specifically on mountains.

This map shows areas in Europe where ecosystems are exposed to atmospheric loads of acidity (sulphur plus nitrogen compounds) that are greater than the critical load for the most sensitive ecosystem in each 50 x 50 grid cell.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has upgraded EUNIS, the only web portal comprehensively linking protected sites, species and habitat types, to coincide with International Day for Biological Diversity, 22 May.

In May 2008 a helicopter flew over unexplored parts of the Amazon in Acre State in Brazil, near the country’s border with Peru. Onboard were officials from Funai, the Brazilian government's Indian affairs department, on a mission to prove the existence of unknown Amazonian tribes who have never been in contact with the outside world. The few aerial pictures Funai has released show startled and intrigued people and their huts but do not reveal any landmarks which could be used to identify the exact location.